Creating a Cinematic Storytelling Experience Using Network-Addressable Devices

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for creating a cinematic storytelling experience using network-addressable technologies. A user sends a request through a client application to retrieve a story from a story database on a server facility. The client device downloads from the server facility the story, a corresponding lexicon, and a set of coordination instructions. Responsive to the user beginning narration of the selected story, a client or a server application detects and interprets the user input and compares the input to a limited set of keywords contained in the lexicon and associated with a specific coordination instruction. When the application detects recitation of a keyword associated with a coordination instruction, the application directs the corresponding network-addressable device to carry out the instruction.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The disclosure generally relates to the field of voice recognition, andin particular, to detecting user input of keywords corresponding tocoordination instructions and instructing network-addressable devices tocarry out those instructions to create a cinematic storytellingexperience.

2. Background Information

Network-addressable or “smart home” devices are electronic devicesconnected to a network that can be controlled through otherinternet-connected devices, such as smartphones or tablets. Thesedevices have emerged in recent years as a convenient and efficient wayfor consumers to control the appliances in their homes, often fromremote locations. Increasingly, consumers are incorporating Internet ofThings (IoT)-enabled devices into their homes, allowing them to controlthe temperature, lighting, locks, and other gadgets from theirsmartphones or computers and allowing the devices to communicate acrossa local area network, such as one found in a consumer's home.

While network-addressable devices are surging in popularity, they areprimarily articles of convenience and are used by a specific user groupof technology-focused individuals. Most manufacturers and retailers ofthese devices have yet to successfully diversify their audiences,targeting tech-savvy members of a household while overlooking othercategories of potential consumers. Further, many consumers choose toadopt network-addressable systems for security, energy-efficiency, andcost-saving purposes. Thus far, few of a consumer's experiences withnetwork-addressable technology have been entertainment-based.

SUMMARY

Described embodiments enable the integration of network-addressabletechnologies with user narration of a book to create a cinematicstorytelling experience. A user uses an application on a client deviceto select a story from a story database and download the story, anassociated lexicon, and coordination instructions. After selecting thestory, in some embodiments the user is given the option to create acustom smart home animation for the story.

If the user elects not to create a custom animation for the story, thesystem uses a pre-made set of coordination instructions supplied by apublisher or third party to create the cinematic experience. When theuser begins narration of the selected story, a voice recognition modulelistens and receives input via the microphone on the user's clientdevice. A computer model is run against the input to determine alikelihood that a word spoken by the user is a keyword. If the modeldetermines that a word is a keyword, a rules module matches the keywordto a rule and retrieves a corresponding instruction directing at leastone network-addressable device to carry out one or more designatedactions. The rules module sends the instruction to a control module,which consults an inventory of the user's network-addressable devices todetermine whether the device associated with the designated action isincluded in the inventory. If the device is included in the inventory,the control module sends an instruction to the device to carry out thedesignated action(s).

If the user elects to create custom coordination instructions, the useruses an effects module on the application to assign various smart homeeffects to different portions of the story. When the user beginsnarration of the selected story and reaches a word or phrase to whichthe user has assigned a custom coordination instruction, the controlmodule sends an instruction to the corresponding network-addressabledevice to perform the action(s) associated with the instruction.

The disclosed embodiments include a computer-implemented method, asystem, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The features andadvantages described in this summary and the following description arenot all inclusive and, in particular, many additional features andadvantages will be apparent in view of the drawings, specification, andclaims. Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in thespecification has been principally selected for readability andinstructional purposes, and may not have been selected to delineate orcircumscribe the disclosed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosed embodiments have other advantages and features that willbe more readily apparent from the detailed description and theaccompanying figures. A brief introduction of the figures is below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system architecture forcreating a cinematic storytelling experience using network-addressabletechnologies, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the clientdevice shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the serverfacility shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram illustrating the interaction between abook, a client application, a server facility, and a network-addressabledevice, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is block diagram illustrating an example computer usable toimplement entities of the cinematic storytelling environment, accordingto an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The figures and the following description describe certain embodimentsby way of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following description that alternative embodiments ofthe structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed withoutdeparting from the principles described herein.

Reference will now be made in detail to several embodiments, examples ofwhich are illustrated in the accompanying figures. It is noted thatwherever practicable similar or like reference numbers may be used inthe figures and may indicate similar or like functionality. The figuresdepict embodiments of the disclosed system (and method) for purposes ofillustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following description that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing fromthe principles described herein.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system view of a serverfacility 100 for creating a cinematic storytelling experience usingnetwork-addressable technologies, in accordance with one embodiment. Thesystem is scalable to accommodate multiple users/viewers that use clientdevices 110 to interact with the server facility 100. While only twoclient devices 110A and 110B are shown, it is understood that very largenumbers (e.g., millions) of client devices are supported and can be incommunication with the server facility 100 at any time.

Each client device 110 is used by a user to communicate with the serverfacility 100. Examples of client devices 110 include any type ofcomputer device, such as a mobile telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, apersonal digital assistant, an IP enabled video player, or a personalcomputer (e.g., desktop, notebook, laptop) computer. In otherembodiments, the client device 110 is a voice-activated home productsuch as a Google Home device or Amazon Echo.

Also connected to the server facility 100 through the network 130 arenetwork-addressable devices 120. Network-addressable devices 120 includethermostats, cameras, lights, locks, and other devices that areconnected across a home network and are capable of being controlledremotely via the client devices 110. While only two network-addressabledevices 120A and 120B are shown, it is understood that very largenumbers (e.g., millions) of network-addressable devices are supportedand can be in communication with the server facility 100 at any time. Inone embodiment, network-addressable devices 120 use a unified operatingsystem such as Google's Brillo IoT platform and communicate via across-platform common language such as Google's Weave™ platform.

The server facility 100 communicates with one or more client devices 110and one or more network-addressable devices 120 via a network 130. Thenetwork 130 enables communications between the client device 110 and theserver facility 100, between the network-addressable devices 120 and theserver facility 100, and between the client device 110 and thenetwork-addressable devices 120. In one embodiment, the network 130 isthe Internet or a mobile network that connects mobile devices to theInternet, and uses standardized internetworking communicationstechnologies and protocols, known now or subsequently developed, thatenable the client device 110 and the network-addressable devices 120 tocommunicate with the server facility 100 and with each other. In anotherembodiment, the network 130 is a cloud computing network and includesone or more components of the server facility 100. The client device110, the network-addressable device 120, and the server facility 100 areconnected to the network 130 through network interfaces.

Client Device

As shown in FIG. 2A, the client device 110 includes a client application210 and a storage facility 235, such as a hard drive or flash memorydevice, to which the client device 110 stores data used by the user inperforming tasks. The client device 110 also typically includes aprocessor, a display device (or output to a display device), and anetwork interface for coupling to the server facility 100 via thenetwork 130.

In some embodiments, the client device 110 includes a video player 205.The video player 205 is used for viewing a video stream. The videoplayer 205 may be a standalone application, or a plug-in to anotherapplication such as a network browser. The video player 205 includesuser interface controls (and corresponding application programminginterfaces) for selecting a video feed, starting, stopping, andrewinding a video. Also, the video player 205 can include in its userinterface a video display format selection configured to indicate whichvideo display format (e.g., a two-dimensional (2D) video or athree-dimensional (3D) video). Other types of user interface controls(e.g., buttons, keyboard controls) can be used as well to control theplayback and video format selection functionality of the video player205.

The client device 110 also includes a client application 210 downloadedthrough the network 130. In another embodiment, the client application210 is pre-loaded on the client device 110 such that the user of theclient device 110 need not download the client application 210separately. In one embodiment, when the user downloads the clientapplication 210 onto the client device 110, the user is asked to inputinformation about the network-addressable devices in the user's home orsurrounding area. For example, a user might tell the application thatthe user has a smart thermostat and a wireless music system in theliving room and color changing smart bulbs and a wireless fan in thebedroom. In another embodiment, a control module 225 on the clientdevice 110 detects network-addressable devices within a specific radiusby searching for devices that use a unified operating system such asGoogle's Brillo system and a cross-platform common language such asGoogle's Weave® platform.

In situations in which the systems discussed here collect personalinformation about users, or may make use of personal information, theusers may be provided with an opportunity to control whether programs orfeatures collect user information (e.g., information about a user'ssocial network, social actions or activities, profession, a user'spreferences, a user's current location, or devices within a specificradius of the client device 110), or to control whether and/or how toreceive content from the content server that may be more relevant to theuser. In addition, certain data may be treated in one or more waysbefore it is stored or used, so that personally identifiable informationis removed. For example, a user's identity may be treated so that nopersonally identifiable information can be determined for the user, or auser's geographic location may be generalized where location informationis obtained (such as to a city, zip code, or state level), so that aparticular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, the user mayhave control over how information is collected about the user and usedby a content server.

The client application 210 is used to download new story experiencesfrom the server facility 100 and to choreograph cues and effectsassociated with each story. The user of the client device 110 downloadsa story from a story database 275 (FIG. 2B) onto the client device 110through the client application 210. When the user downloads the story,in various embodiments a lexicon and a set of pre-made coordinationinstructions associated with the story are included in the download, andthe user in some embodiments is given the option to create a custom setof coordination instructions. The story, the lexicon, and any pre-madeand/or custom coordination instructions are stored in the storagefacility 235, such that the client device 110 need not be connected tothe server facility 100 to begin the cinematic storytelling experience.In one embodiment, the download also includes a video of a contentprovider narrating the story.

The client application 210 includes a voice recognition module 215, arules module 220, a control module 225, and an effects module 230. Thevoice recognition module 215 listens to user narration of the selectedstory and receives the narration as input via the microphone on theclient device 110. In one embodiment, the user input is playback of thevideo containing the content provider's narration of the story.

Referring still to FIG. 2A and also to FIG. 2B, for each story stored inthe story database 275, a corresponding lexicon is stored in a corpuslexicon 280 and a set of pre-made coordination instructions supplied bythe publisher of the story or a third party is stored in the storydatabase 275. The lexicon contains a list of all of the words in thestory, including a subset of the words that are designated keywords. Invarious embodiments, a story's lexicon also contains the total number ofwords in the story and the corresponding numbers of each keyword. Forexample, the lexicon for “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe mightindicate that the story contains a total of 2093 words and that words72, 268, 599, 1362, 1987, and 2045 are keywords. In one embodiment, eachkeyword is a single word in the lexicon. In another embodiment, akeyword is a phrase. In still other embodiments, the keywords may be acombination of single words and phrases. Each keyword is associated withat least one specific instruction directing one or morenetwork-addressable devices to perform at least one action responsive todetection of the keyword. The specific instructions for each story arestored together as a set of coordination instructions in the storydatabase 275. For example, a set of coordination instructions for aghost story might include the following:

TABLE 1 Coordination Instructions Network-addressable Keyword DeviceInstruction Dark Smart lights Gradually dim smart lights until off WindSmart fan Set fan to low howled Wireless stereo system Play howlingnoise for 5 seconds Thunder Wireless stereo system Play thunder clapafter 10 second delay Cold Smart thermostat Lower temperature in1-degree increments until temperature reaches 60 degrees

In some embodiments, the user elects to create a custom set ofcoordination instructions to animate the story. Upon opening the clientapplication 210 and selecting the story, the user interacts with theeffects module 230 to assign various effects to different parts of thestory. The effects module 230 presents on the client device 110 the textof the selected story. In some embodiments, the effects module 230indicates which words are listed as keywords in the pre-made set ofcoordination instructions (e.g., by bolding or underlining thekeywords).

The effects module 230 also displays on the client device 110 a list ofpre-made building blocks from which the user can select. For example,the building blocks may contain light patterns such as flickering, fadeon, fade off, lighting effect, color controls, etc. Building blocksrelated to sound effects might include thunder, heartbeats, doorbells,screams, etc. And building blocks related to network-addressableappliances might include control of smart outlets, temperature control,and fan control (e.g., on/off, speed control).

The user provides input to the effects module 230 in selecting from thelist of pre-made building blocks. In one embodiment, the user uses adrag and drop interaction to assign building blocks to words in thestory. Alternatively, the user may select building blocks by clicking onan entry in a list of available effects. In some embodiments, thebuilding blocks are assigned to the keywords. Additionally oralternatively, the user may elect to assign the building blocks to wordsthat are not designated keywords in the pre-made set of coordinationinstructions. In one embodiment, multiple building blocks are assignedto a single word. In another embodiment, a single building block isassigned to multiple words. Responsive to receiving the user input, theeffects module 230 consolidates the building blocks into a custom set ofcoordination instructions and sends the custom coordination instructionsfor storage on the storage facility 235. The user may create multiplesets of custom coordination instructions for each story.

When the user opens the client application 210 and selects a story, theeffects module 230 displays on the client device 110 an option to usethe pre-made coordination instructions associated with the story or aset of custom coordination instructions.

If the user elects to use the pre-made set of coordination instructionsand begins narration of the selected story, the voice recognition module215 interprets the user input and determines whether the input containswords in the story lexicon and, more specifically, whether the inputcontains a keyword. The voice recognition module 215 is trained tointerpret the user input by matching audio profiles of keywords to theuser input to detect recitation of a keyword.

The voice recognition module 215 is a text-to-speech system that uses alanguage model and an acoustic model to convert the user input towritten text and compare the text to a story lexicon. The language modelcontains a list of words and their probability of occurring in a givensequence, and the acoustic model contains a statistical representationof the distinct sounds that comprise each word in the language model.The acoustic model is trained using a set of audio recordings and theircorresponding transcripts. For each word included in a story's lexicon,the voice recognition module 215 receives as input hundreds or thousandsof iterations of the word to account for variations in accents,dialects, regional differences, and the like. Over time, variations inpronunciation will lead to greater certainty in recognizing a particularword and will increase the speed with which the voice recognition module215 is able to perform the detection. Additional or alternative methodsfor training voice recognition modules are well known in the art.

An audio profile of each keyword is stored with a story's lexicon in thecorpus lexicon 280. In one embodiment, the voice recognition module 215does not perform a full speech-to-text analysis of the user input.Rather, the voice recognition module 215 employs a matching algorithm tomatch the audio profile of a story's keywords with the audio profile ofthe user input as the user narrates the story. Alternatively, the voicerecognition module 215 performs a full speech-to-text analysis andcompares the text of the narration with the keywords to determinewhether the user input contained a keyword.

Suitable examples of speech-to-text engines include Google Cloud Speech,Google Web Speech, and Android Speech. Alternative speech-to-textengines may be adapted to operate according to the teachings disclosedherein. In either embodiment, detection by the voice recognition module215 is improved if the voice recognition module 215 narrows the matchingalgorithm based on a temporal understanding of the user's location inthe story as discussed below.

In another embodiment, the voice recognition module 215 detects thepoint in the story at which the user is located based on the number ofwords that the user has read, the location of the keywords, and thetotal number of words in the story. The voice recognition module 215retrieves the story's lexicon from the corpus lexicon 280 and counts thenumber of words contained in the user input. When the voice recognitionmodule 215 reaches a numbered word corresponding to a keyword, the voicerecognition module 215 classifies the input as a match for the keyword.In some embodiments, the user exits the application before completingthe story, and the voice recognition module 215 saves the user's placesuch that when the user resumes narration, the voice recognition module215 detects the user's position in the story. If the user resumesnarration from the beginning of the story instead of the place where hepreviously left off, the voice recognition module 215 detects that theuser input does not correspond to the expected position and uses thematching algorithm to match the audio profile of the user input with theaudio profiles of the words in the lexicon to determine the user'sposition.

When a user selects a story from the story database 275, the voicerecognition module 215 retrieves the corresponding lexicon from thecorpus lexicon 280, and recognition of the user input is restricted tothe words contained in the lexicon. Restricting the applicable lexiconbased on user selection of a story significantly increases theprobability that the voice recognition module 215 will accuratelyinterpret the user input and increases the speed at which the voicerecognition module 215 operates.

Responsive to receiving the user input, the voice recognition module 215runs the computer model against the input to determine a scoreindicating the probability that the user input corresponds to a keyword.The highest scoring keyword match above a threshold is designated by thevoice recognition module 215 as the match for the user input. The voicerecognition module 215 then sends the keyword to the rules module 220for analysis.

If the user elects to use a set of custom coordination instructions, thevoice recognition module 215 interprets the user input and determineswhether the input contains words in the story lexicon and, morespecifically, whether the input contains a word or phrase for which theuser designated a custom coordination instruction. The voice recognitionmodule 215 performs interpretation of the user input in the same mannerdescribed above with respect to the pre-made set of coordinationinstructions.

After interpreting the user input as a word stored in a story's lexicon,the voice recognition module 215 provides the interpretation to therules module 220 for processing. The rules module 220 coordinates thecues and effects associated with each story. Responsive to receiving theoutput from the voice recognition module 215, the rules module 220accesses and analyzes the pre-made or custom coordination instructionsto determine the at least one specific network-addressable deviceinstruction that corresponds to the detected keyword.

The rules module 220 then sends the at least one coordinationinstruction corresponding to the keyword to the control module 225 forcommunication to the network-addressable devices 120.

The control module 225 receives the coordination instruction(s) from therules module 220 and instructs the network-addressable devices 120 toperform the action(s) corresponding to the keyword. In one embodiment,the instruction is to perform the action immediately after the controlmodule 225 provides the instruction to the network-addressable device120. Additionally or alternatively, the instruction may be to performthe action at a later point in the story or to perform an actionmultiple times over the course of the story.

The control module 225 compares the received coordination instructionfor a keyword with a list of the network-addressable devices in theuser's home or surrounding area as determined by user input or detectionby the control module 225. If the coordination instruction contains aninstruction corresponding to a network-addressable device that is withina specified radius of the client device 110, the control module 225instructs the network-addressable device to execute the instruction. Forexample, if the coordination instruction requires smart lights to turnblue, the control module 225 sends the instruction if it determines thatsmart lights are present within a specified radius of the client device.In one embodiment, the control module 225 communicates with thenetwork-addressable devices 120 via a communication platform such asGoogle's Weave™ platform. If the coordination instruction contains aninstruction corresponding to a network-addressable device that is notwithin a certain radius of the client device 110, the control module 225skips the instruction in one embodiment.

For example, assume a user selects the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” fromthe story database 275. The download onto the user's client device 110includes a story file, a lexicon containing a list of the words andkeywords in the story, and a set of pre-made coordination instructionscorresponding to the keywords. If the user elects not to use a set ofcustom coordination instructions, when the user of the client device 110begins reading the story aloud, the voice recognition module 215receives the input and applies a matching algorithm to determine whetherthe input corresponds to a keyword. In some embodiments, the voicerecognition module 215 narrows the matching algorithm based on atemporal understanding of the user's location in the story, as discussedabove. Based on the results of the matching algorithm, the voicerecognition model 215 determines a score indicating the probability thatthe input corresponds to a keyword and selects the highest scoringkeyword match above a threshold as the match for the user input. Thevoice recognition module 215 then sends the keyword to the rules module220, which compares the keyword to the coordination instructions andsends the corresponding coordination instruction to the control module225 for communication to the network-addressable device 120.

For example, the pre-made set of coordination instructions for TheTell-Tale Heart may include an instruction that when a user says thekeyword “darkness,” the lights in the room should go out, or aninstruction that when the user says “beating,” the sound system in theroom should make a loud beating noise. In other embodiments, differentkeywords in the same story trigger the same instruction or one keywordtriggers multiple actions. In still another embodiment, a keywordtriggers a network-addressable device 120 to take an action thatdevelops over the course of a sentence, a paragraph, or the entirestory. For example, the coordination instructions for the Tell-TaleHeart may include an instruction that when a user says the keyword“beating,” the sound system in the room starts making a slow and quietbeating noise that becomes faster and louder as the story progresses.If, for example, the coordination instructions include an instructionthat when a user says the keyword “cold,” the thermostat lowers thetemperature in the room, but there is not a smart thermostat within aspecified radius of the client device 110, the control module 225 willskip the instruction.

In one embodiment, some functionality attributed to the clientapplication 210 may be performed on the server facility 100. If greaterprocessing is required than is capable of being performed on the clientdevice 110, the request is sent over the network 130 to the serverfacility 100 to be performed on a server application 250. Additionallyor alternatively, the server application 250 may perform some or all ofthe tasks affiliated with the client application 120, as describedbelow.

The client device 110 also includes a storage facility 235 that storesuser-selected stories downloaded onto the client device 110 through aserver application 250. The storage facility 235 also stores thecoordination instructions and the lexicon associated with the selectedstory as well as a video of a content provider narrating the story. Whenthe user of the client device 110 opens the application to initiate thecinematic storytelling experience, the client application 210 retrievesthe story and associated information from the storage facility 235.

Server Facility

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a server facility 100 for creating acinematic storytelling experience using network-addressabletechnologies. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, the server facility 100includes a server application 250, a video server 270, a story database275, and a corpus lexicon 280. Other conventional features, such asfirewalls, load balancers, application servers, failover servers, sitemanagement tools, and so forth are not shown as to more clearlyillustrate the features of the system. Examples of a suitable serverfacility 100 for implementation of the system include the YouTube™ andGoogle Video™ websites; other video hosting sites are known as well, andcan be adapted to operate according to the teaching disclosed herein. Itwill be understood that the term “website” represents any system andmethod of providing content and is not intended to be limited to systemsthat support content provided via the Internet or the HTTP protocol. Thevarious servers are conventionally implemented, whether as a singlepiece of software or hardware or as multiple pieces of software orhardware and can couple to the network 130 via the server application250. In general, functions described in one embodiment as beingperformed on the server side can also be performed on the client side inother embodiments if appropriate.

Like the client application 210, the server application 250 includes avoice recognition module 255, a rules module 260, a control module 265,and an effects module 270. In one embodiment, the server application 250receives user queries for videos. In response to a user query, theserver application 250 accesses the story and associated coordinationinstructions from the story database 275 and the lexicon from the corpuslexicon 280. In one embodiment, the server application 250 facilitatesdownload of the story, the coordination instructions, and the lexicononto the client device 110. In another embodiment, the story, thecoordination instructions, and the lexicon remain stored on the serverfacility 100 during the cinematic storytelling experience and the serverapplication 250 performs the tasks affiliated with the clientapplication 210 described above. In still another embodiment, creationof the cinematic storytelling experience is performed by both the clientapplication 210 and the server application 250.

The video server 270 receives uploaded media content from contentproviders and allows content to be viewed on the client device 110.Content may be uploaded to the video server 270 via the Internet from apersonal computer, through a cellular network from a telephone or PDA,or by other means for transferring data over the network 130 known tothose of ordinary skill in the art. Content may be downloaded from thevideo server 270 in a similar manner; in one embodiment media content isprovided as a file download to a client device 110; in an alternativeembodiment, media content is streamed to the client device 110. Themeans by which media content is received by the video server 270 neednot match the means by which it is delivered to the client device 110.For example, a content provider may upload a video via a browser on apersonal computer, whereas the client device 110 may view that video asa stream sent to a PDA. Note also that the video server 270 may itselfserve as the content provider.

The story database 275 stores stories and associated metadata, providedby their respective content owners. The story files have metadataassociated with each file, such as a story ID, author, title, label,genre, and length.

The story database 275 also stores pre-made coordination instructionsassociated with each story that dictate the use of network-addressabledevices 120 in the cinematic storytelling experience. For example,assume that a father is reading a story to his son about a small boattraversing the ocean. The coordination instructions may provide thatwhen the voice recognition module 215 detects the keyword “calm” or“peaceful,” the smart lights in the room should glow blue and green. Thesky grows dark as the story progresses. When the father reads thekeyword “storm,” the smart speakers in the room switch from calm musicand ocean sounds to an ominous score and loud winds. Finally, upondetecting the combination of the keywords “lightening” and “strikes,”the server application 250 instructs the smart lights in the room toflash yellow and the speakers to produce a thunder clap.

For each story in the story database 275, the corpus lexicon 280 storesa lexicon containing the words used in the story. The voice recognitionmodule 215 is trained to recognize a limited number of keywords for eachstory, as described above in conjunction with FIG. 1. Restricting theapplicable lexicon increases the probability that the voice recognitionmodule 215 will accurately interpret user input for a story andincreases the speed at which the recognition is performed. In someembodiments, recognition speed and accuracy is also improved bynarrowing the matching algorithm based on a temporal understanding ofthe user's location in the story such that the lexicon of possible wordsis based on the location.

Interaction Diagram

FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram illustrating an example process forcreating a cinematic storytelling experience with network-addressabletechnologies. In the displayed embodiment, creation of the cinematicexperience is performed on the client application 210. In otherembodiments, the process occurs on the server facility 100 or on boththe client application 210 and the server facility 100.

The user of the client device 110 opens the client application 210 andinteracts with the server application 250 on the server facility 100 toselect 302 a story from the story database 275. The server application250 accesses the story and a set of pre-made coordination instructionsfrom the story database 275 and the lexicon from the corpus lexicon 280.The client device 110 downloads 304 the story, the pre-made coordinationinstructions, and the lexicon from the server facility 100. In oneembodiment, the download includes a video of a content providernarrating the selected story. In another embodiment, the video server270 streams a video to the client device 110.

The client application 210 displays on the client device 110 an optionto create a set of custom coordination instructions. In someembodiments, the user assigns pre-made building blocks associated withlight patterns, sound effects, and appliance controls to animate variousportions of the story and create the custom coordination instructions.In other embodiments, the user elects not to create custom coordinationinstructions and instead uses the pre-made set of coordinationinstructions supplied by the publisher or a third party.

The client application 210 detects 306 user narration of the selectedstory. In one embodiment, the user reads aloud from the downloaded storyfile stored in the storage facility 235. In another embodiment, thenarration comprises the user reading from a physical version of thestory separate from the client device 110 (e.g., a book, a magazine,another client device, etc.). In still another embodiment, the narrationcomprises playback of a video file in which a content provider narratesthe story.

The various components of the client application 210 analyze 308 thenarration and instruct the network-addressable devices 120 to perform anaction responsive to detecting recitation of a keyword. The voicerecognition module 215 uses speech-to-text technology to interpret theuser input as corresponding to a keyword and provides the interpretationto the rules module 220 for processing. Technology for performingspeech-to-text is widely available and an appropriate method may bechosen by the implementer for performing this function. In embodimentswhere the user has created custom coordination instructions, recognitionof the user input proceeds in the same manner.

The rules module 220 accesses the pre-made and custom coordinationinstructions from the storage facility 235 and compares the coordinationinstructions with the received keyword to determine the applicableinstruction(s). The rules module 220 then communicates the applicableinstruction to the control module 225, which determines whether thecorresponding network-addressable device 120 is located within aspecified radius of the client device 110. If the control module 225determines that the network-addressable device 120 is located within thespecified radius, the control module 225 instructs 310 thenetwork-addressable device 120 to perform the at least one actionassociated with the instruction. In one embodiment, the instructiondirects one network-addressable device 120 to perform one action. Inother embodiments, the instruction directs multiple network-addressabledevices 120 to perform an action or directs one network-addressabledevice 120 to perform multiple actions. At 312, the network-addressabledevice 120 executes the instruction.

The client 110 and the server facility 100 are each implemented usingcomputers. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer400 usable to implement entities of the cinematic storytellingenvironment, in accordance with one embodiment. The example computer 400has sufficient memory, processing capacity, network connectivitybandwidth, and other computing resources to implement the cinematicstorytelling experience as described herein.

The computer 400 includes at least one processor 402 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit, a graphics processing unit) coupled to a chipset 404.The chipset 404 includes a memory controller hub 420 and an input/output(I/O) controller hub 422. A memory 406 and a graphics adapter 412 arecoupled to the memory controller hub 420, and a display 418 is coupledto the graphics adapter 412. A storage device 408, a keyboard 410, apointing device 414, and a network adapter 416 are coupled to the I/Ocontroller hub 422. Other embodiments of the computer 400 have differentarchitectures.

The storage device 408 is a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium such as a hard drive, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM),DVD, or a solid-state memory device. The memory 406 holds instructionsand data used by the processor 402. The processor 402 may include one ormore processors 402 having one or more cores that execute instructions.The pointing device 414 is a mouse, touch-sensitive screen, or othertype of pointing device, and in some instances is used in combinationwith the keyboard 410 to input data into the computer 400. The graphicsadapter 412 displays media and other images and information on thedisplay 418. The network adapter 416 couples the computer 400 to one ormore computer networks (e.g., the network 130).

The computer 400 is adapted to execute computer program modules forproviding functionality described herein including presenting mediaand/or metadata generation. As used herein, the term “module” refers tocomputer program logic used to provide the specified functionality.Thus, a module can be implemented in hardware, firmware, and/orsoftware. In one embodiment of a computer 400 that implements the serverfacility 100, program modules such as the server application 250 and thevideo server 270 are stored on the storage device 408, loaded into thememory 406, and executed by the processor 402.

The types of computers 400 used by the entities of the cinematicstorytelling environment can vary depending on the embodiment and theprocessing power required by the entity. For example, the client device110 is a smart phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. In otherembodiments, the client device 110 is a voice-activated home productsuch as a Google Home device or Amazon Echo. As another example, theserver facility 100 might comprise multiple blade servers workingtogether to provide the functionality described herein. The computers400 may contain duplicates of some components or may lack some of thecomponents described above (e.g., a keyboard 410, a graphics adapter412, a pointing device 414, a display 418). For example, the serverfacility 100 can run in a single computer 400 or multiple computers 400communicating with each other through a network such as in a serverfarm.

The present invention has been described in particular detail withrespect to various embodiments, and those of skill in the art willappreciate that the invention may be practiced in other embodiments. Inaddition, those of skill in the art will appreciate the followingaspects of the disclosure. First, the particular naming of thecomponents, capitalization of terms, the attributes, data structures, orany other programming or structural aspect is not mandatory orsignificant, and the mechanisms that implement the invention or itsfeatures may have different names, formats, or protocols. Second, thesystem may be implemented via a combination of hardware and software, asdescribed, or entirely in hardware elements. Third, the particulardivision of functionality between the various system componentsdescribed herein is merely exemplary, and not mandatory; functionsperformed by a single system component may instead be performed bymultiple components, and functions performed by multiple components mayinstead performed by a single component.

Some portions of above description describe the invention in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are used by thoseskilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey thesubstance of their work to others skilled in the art. These operations,while described functionally, computationally, or logically, areunderstood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalentelectrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has alsoproven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operationsas modules, without loss of generality. The described operations andtheir associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware orhardware.

In addition, the terms used to describe various quantities, data values,and computations are understood to be associated with the appropriatephysical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to thesequantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from thefollowing discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description,discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or“calculating” or “determining” or the like, refer to the action andprocesses of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device,that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the computer system memories or registersor other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purposesystems may also be used with programs in accordance with the teachingsherein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specializedapparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structurefor a variety of these systems will appear from the description above.In addition, the present invention is not described with reference toany particular programming language. It is appreciated that a variety ofprogramming languages may be used to implement the teachings of thepresent invention as described herein, and any references to specificlanguages are provided for disclosure of enablement and best mode of thepresent invention.

Finally, it should be noted that the language used in the specificationhas been principally selected for readability and instructionalpurposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribethe inventive subject matter. Accordingly, the disclosure of the presentinvention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scopeof the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

1. A computer-implemented method comprising: sending, from a clientdevice to a server, a user selection of a story; receiving, from theserver, a lexicon associated with the selected story, the lexiconcomprising a limited number of keywords; receiving coordinationinstructions associated with the selected story, the coordinationinstructions including instructions for the client device to instructone or more network-addressable devices to perform at least one actionresponsive to the client device detecting a keyword; receiving userinput, the user input including verbal recitation of the selected story;detecting correspondence between the user input and at least one of thekeywords; and directing the one or more network-addressable devices toperform the at least one action responsive to the coordinationinstructions for the at least one keyword.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the detecting is performed by the clientdevice.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein detectingcorrespondence between the user input and at least one of the keywordsfurther comprises: sending the received user input to the server; andreceiving from the server the correspondence between the user input andat least one of the keywords.
 4. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the detecting comprises using a matching algorithm tomatch the audio profile of the at least one keyword with the audioprofile of the user input.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the verbal recitation comprises playback of a recordednarration of the story.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: detecting network-addressable devices within aspecified radius of the client device; responsive to detecting the oneor more network-addressable devices within the specified radius,directing the one or more network-addressable devices to perform the atleast one action; and responsive to failing to detect the one or morenetwork-addressable devices within the specified radius, skipping the atleast one action.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereinthe coordination instructions for the at least one keyword contain aninstruction to perform the at least one action at a plurality of pointsin the story.
 8. A computer system, comprising: a computer-readablestorage medium comprising executable program code for generating anintegrated storytelling experience using network-addressable devices,the computer program code: sending, from a client device to a server, auser selection of a story; receiving, from the server, a lexiconassociated with the selected story, the lexicon comprising a limitednumber of keywords; receiving coordination instructions associated withthe selected story, the coordination instructions including instructionsfor the client device to instruct one or more network-addressabledevices to perform at least one action responsive to the client devicedetecting a keyword; receiving user input, the user input includingverbal recitation of the selected story; detecting correspondencebetween the user input and at least one of the keywords; and directingthe one or more network-addressable devices to perform the at least oneaction responsive to the coordination instructions for the at least onekeyword.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the detecting is performed bythe client device.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein detectingcorrespondence between the user input and at least one of the keywordsfurther comprises: sending the received user input to the server; andreceiving from the server the correspondence between the user input andat least one of the keywords.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein thedetecting comprises using a matching algorithm to match the audioprofile of the at least one keyword with the audio profile of the userinput.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein the verbal recitationcomprises playback of a recorded narration of the story.
 13. The systemof claim 8, further comprising computer program code for: detectingnetwork-addressable devices within a specified radius of the clientdevice; responsive to detecting the one or more network-addressabledevices within the specified radius, directing the one or morenetwork-addressable devices to perform the at least one action; andresponsive to failing to detect the one or more network-addressabledevices within the specified radius, skipping the at least one action.14. The system of claim 8, wherein the coordination instructions for theat least one keyword contain an instruction to perform the at least oneaction at a plurality of points in the story.
 15. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that,in response to execution, cause a device comprising a processor toperform operations, comprising: sending, from a client device to aserver, a user selection of a story; receiving, from the server, alexicon associated with the selected story, the lexicon comprising alimited number of keywords; receiving coordination instructionsassociated with the selected story, the coordination instructionsincluding instructions for the client device to instruct one or morenetwork-addressable devices to perform at least one action responsive tothe client device detecting a keyword; receiving user input, the userinput including verbal recitation of the selected story; detectingcorrespondence between the user input and at least one of the keywords;and directing the one or more network-addressable devices to perform theat least one action responsive to the coordination instructions for theat least one keyword.
 16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the detecting is performed by the client device.
 17. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein detecting correspondencebetween the user input and at least one of the keywords furthercomprises: sending the received user input to the server; and receivingfrom the server the correspondence between the user input and at leastone of the keywords.
 18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the detecting comprises using a matching algorithm to match theaudio profile of the at least one keyword with the audio profile of theuser input.
 19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein theverbal recitation comprises playback of a recorded narration of thestory.
 20. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein theinstructions further comprise instructions for: detectingnetwork-addressable devices within a specified radius of the clientdevice; responsive to detecting the one or more network-addressabledevices within the specified radius, directing the one or morenetwork-addressable devices to perform the at least one action; andresponsive to failing to detect the one or more network-addressabledevices within the specified radius, skipping the at least one action.